The Infected Day
by Indy1
Summary: Everybody knows Megabyte must've once arrived in Mainframe. But how exactly...?


The Infected Day

**The Infected Day**

It was only a few cycles after the destruction of the twincity, and all of Mainframe was buzzing with activity. At the first light, binomes had started working, from cleaning the city from ashes and rubble, to making a beginning on the new workstations in the Principal Office. Since most of those binomes came to eat at Dot's Diner, the young woman sprite called Dot, who owned the place, had her hands full. Her little brother Enzo helped her, as did some binome woman who couldn't stand just hanging around, doing nothing.

The destruction of the twin city had left Dot and Enzo without parents. Ferra and James Matrix, their parents, had been Mainframe's scientists, and the experiment they had been conducting had caused the twin city to explode. Dot and Enzo had been in Mainframe that night, so they weren't hurt, but the explosion deleted their parents. And although they did not show any emotion, both young sprites were deeply touched by what had happened. The only way Dot knew of to process things, was to work. And so they did.

When noon had passed, things quieted down at the Diner. And it was then that Phong's call came.

Dot and Enzo were sitting at the bar for just a moment, having a nano pause, when Dot received a call on her organiser. It was Phong.  
'My child, I have just picked up a signal that indicates an update. I think you should come to the Principal Office!'  
Dot frowned. 'Both of us?' Phong shook his head.  
'Leave Enzo at your Diner. Just come, and hurry please!'  
He disconnected, and left Dot staring at an empty screen.

Within a few nano's, Dot had reached the Principal Office. She found Phong in his Read Only Room, where he was working like mad, with dozens of vidwindows open and active. 'Phong, what is going on? Why is this such a cause for stress? We've been through upgrades before, haven't we?'  
Phong nodded, while typing busily on one of the keyboards.  
'Yes, my child, but we were prepared for those. In all the hubbub about the twincity, I have forgotten to prepare the city for this one.' For a moment, he stopped typing and stared into the distance.  
'I must be getting old.' Then he shook his head and got back to typing.  
Dot stood watching him for a while, while he ran from one panel to another, typing, comparing and re-typing. Then all of a sudden he looked up, gave Dot a thoughtful look and prompted her to come closer.  
'Here, my child. Do you see these readout panels? Now here is what you must do...'

Mainframe's sky grew yellow, and fireworks exploded. Phong and Dot had moved to the Principal Office's roof. The platform they were on gave direct access to the systems Core. Phong looked at Dot, and she nodded. He opened the public vidwindows and spoke to the Mainframers:  
'Residents of Mainframe, the city will be powered down for the upgrade, and the Principal Office will be shielded until we have installed it. We have got this covered, so do not worry and stay calm.'  
Then the System-voice announced: "Warning. Incoming Upgrade!" And, as a gift from the sky, the upgrade descended upon Mainframe.  
Phong closed the windows and nodded at Dot, who looked at her organiser. They descended into the core again. With one push on a key, the city was powered down, and the Principal Office raised her shields. 'All's ready!'  
Phong and Dot stood looking at the upgrade for a few nano's. Then Dot resolutely stepped to it. 'Okay, how do you open one of these?' Phong smiled at her and approached it as well.  
'The trick is to open it here, so all the locks will be opened at once.' Phong pulled at the top of the upgrade. He stretched his neck and looked curiously into the upgrade.  
Then, so quickly Dot could not even react, the old wise sprite was pulled into the upgrade. As soon as Dot realised what had happened, she screamed. Suddenly she saw a figure rise from the upgrade. It looked like a sprite, a strange one, but still like a sprite. It was very large, and seemed to consist of blue armour, with yellow bands around it's arms and shoulders. On it's head it had some sort of red comb. On it's chest was a green face, very unhappy looking. It had huge hands with long, claw-like nails, and in one of those hands it held Phong. The old sprite's eyes had grown large, and he looked at Dot, horrified.  
'V-I-R-U-S!!!!' he gargled.  
Dot stood dumbstruck. She did not know what he meant with "virus". What in the Net was "virus"? What she did know was that this sprite-figure had to leave the Core, and NOW!!!  
But first he had to release Phong, and in her brain she was quickly forming a plan to get that done.

Enzo looked through the Diner windows. From where he was standing he could see the Principal Office. Just moments before he had seen his sister on top of the building, together with the city's executive secretary, Phong. It felt good to see his sister had gained such a prominent position in the Mainframe society. He knew a lot of the Mainframers had blamed his father for the destruction of the twincity, and he felt that Dot's position at Phong's side made the sprites forget about the things the other member of the Matrix family had done.  
'Enzo!!' Enzo looked around, and saw two binomes in a questionable position, cornered by his dog, Frisket.  
'Frisket, back of!' The red and gold dog looked at his little master, snarled one last time at the binomes and backed of. He walked towards Enzo and sat down at his feet. Then he looked up, and softly wagged his tail. Enzo stroked his head and again looked at the Principal Office. Business couldn't be resumed till the upgrade was installed and the city was powered up again.

The sprite-like figure stood watching Dot, with a courteous look, that somehow smouldered with evil. Dot was about to start executing her plan, when Phong gargled something.  
'Power……up……..ci…ty..' Dot bit her lip. Her plan had been to shoot the sprite-like figure out of the Principal Office, but she hadn't thought of the fact that the energy-pressure between the city and the Principal Office was so different that the Principal Office would have exploded if she'd done that.  
She looked around the platform they were on. Beside the upgrade, the sprite-like figure holding Phong and of course herself, there only was a small control panel, with which they had powered down the city.  
Without letting her eyes leave the sprite-like figure, Dot moved towards the control panel. Suddenly the figure began to speak. It's voice was suave but diabolical, as he had looked at her just nano's ago.  
'Do not bother to do so sneaky, miss. I'd be happy to leave this building as soon as possible.'  
With only a few very large steps, the figure had closed in on Dot. It's looked thoughtful for a moment, then it spoke again. 'It might be a good thing to introduce myself.' It rose, still holding Phong in one of it's hands.  
"I am Megabyte. I come from the net. Infecting systems, people, and cities. My format? Virus. To corrupt and conquer."  
It had raised it hands in a triumphant gesture. Dot stood frozen in horror for just a moment. Phong's words finally had meaning: VIRUS!! Virus was a format! But that hadn't changed the things that had to be done. This Virus, this Megabyte, had to leave the Core as soon as possible. After only a nano, Dot was able to move again. She leaped to the control panel and smacked the power-up link.

Enzo still stood looking out of the diner window. The Principal Office was still protected by the shield, as it always was when an upgrade had to be installed. All the lights in the Diner were out, due to the city power-down. It always took some time to install an upgrade, so Enzo was totally unprepared for what he saw.  
The Principal Office shields were lowered and slowly Mainframe powered up again! Enzo stood looking out of the window in total surprise, as did most of the other binomes in Mainframe. One of the binomes sitting next to Enzo shook his head. 'This is not good…'

A smile spread on the virus's face. He looked at the Core's roof, and then at Dot. 'And now miss, I would like to leave this place.' Dot searched for support at the control panel.  
'First release Phong, you…., you Virus!  
Again Megabyte smiled. He stepped close to Dot, and his face was only inches away from hers. 'You will see me again, miss. And before I go I would like to know your name.'  
With great presence of mind, Dot kicked the Virus in his chest. Megabyte was surprised, and by the blow he was send flying to the middle of the platform. In his flight, he released Phong, who flew through the air, only to be stopped by a pillar at the edge of the platform.  
Megabyte rose, and his eyes were fixed on Dot. 'That was a big mistake. And you will pay for it.' He did one step closer.  
'One last time, miss. What is your name?'  
Dot smacked one of the keys on the control panel. With a surprised look on his face, Megabyte was shot out of the Core, out the roof of the Principal Office. And as she watched him go, Dot shouted after him: 'It's Matrix. Dot Matrix!' Then she turned and ran to Phong motionless body, that still lay on the floor.

'Easy, my child, calm now. Everything will be alright.' Dot sat in a chair in Phong's office, and sobbed uncontrollable. Phong patted her on the leg, and then lay a hand on her shoulder. 'It's okay. You did a wonderful job.' Dot sobbed even harder. 'NOOOOO…..'  
'Yes. You did very well.' Dot sniffed and looked at Phong. 'No. I released a Virus on Mainframe….' Phong smiled comforting. 'There was nothing else you could do. And who would know what could have happened if I had opened this Upgrade on my own?'  
Dot sniffed again and wiped the tears from her eyes. 'I-it would not have been good, would it?' 'No, my child, I reckon this Virus would have deleted me. So that is what I meant. You did a good thing.' Dot smiled through her tears. 'Okay then.' Then she suddenly seemed to remember something. 'Enzo! Where's Enzo?' She looked around in horror, as if she expected him to be in Phong's office.  
Phong patted her on her back again. 'He was at the Diner I last saw him. And I reckon he's still there.' Dot didn't seem assured. 'You don't know him. He can't stay at one place for a long time. He's bound to be roaming around Mainframe. And now there is a Virus loose in the city.' Dot was on the verge of tears again. 'I just have to know where he is.'  
Immediately she got her organiser and called the Diner's number. It took a few moments for the call to be answered. Cecil appeared on Dot's screen. 'Cecil, where is Enzo?' Dot's waiter gave her a incomprehensive look. 'He is right here, Madam.' He turned aside and called Enzo. 'Messieur Enzo, it's your sister on the line.' Because Cecil had turned, he did not see Dot starting to cry again. Enzo did see it when he faced the vidwindow.  
'Dot, what is going on?' He was visibly shocked. Dot sniffed, and Phong took her organiser. 'It is alright, Enzo. Your sister is just a little upset. I think you should come here for a while.' Enzo raised his eyebrows, but closed the window.  
After a few nano's, he entered Phong's office.  
'Dot, what is going on?' Dot sniffed again, but she was able to speak now.  
'It's nothing, Enzo. I was just a little worried about you.' She rubbed her eyes. 'I released a Virus on Mainframe.' Enzo's eyes grew large. 'A Virus? What is a Virus?'  
Phong sighed. 'Now you can see how safe our situation in Mainframe has always been. You don't even know what a Virus is.' Dot turned her eyes to the heavens. Enzo sighed.  
'Okay, okay, my children. Virus is a format. This Virus, which is called Megabyte, has a code known as "to corrupt and conquer." His function is to gain as much power as he can, to grow as much as is possible. Viruses are dangerous, because they can infect sprites. These infected sprites, be they binomes or data sprites, are then forced to follow the Virus' every order, because it controls their PID.' Dot and Enzo slowly nodded.  
'I can get that.' Dot sipped from the tea Phong had given her. 'But this Virus, has he already infected binomes?'  
'I can check that.' Phong turned, opened a vidwindow and quickly typed something. The window flickered, and then opened files and put them all on screen. Phong looked through the files, and his eyes grew worried.  
'Already six binomes have been infected…… No: make that seven…' His eyes grow more worried. 'This Megabyte is infecting the city quite rapidly.' Dot gave him a frustrated look he did not see.  
'Just what we need after the case of the twincity.' He murmured under his breath.  
Dot sighed. She was obviously feeling bad about the whole situation. 'Isn't there anything we can do about it?'  
Phong stared into the distance. 'There might be. But I have to make some preparations, make sure there is a good security, it might take some time.'  
Enzo and Dot looked at him. 'So?'  
'I could try to put a limitation to the amount of sprites this Virus is able to infect. Of course, we'll have to update the security of the file it'll be in regularly, but it should be able to work out.' He nodded to himself.  
'Now you kids go and play along. I have important work to do.'  
The two sprites looked at each other with raised eyebrows, but did as the old sprite said. They rose from their chairs and left the room.  
'So, what's next?' Enzo looked at his sister.  
'Go back to the Diner and wait, I suppose….'

It was only the next day when Phong called again. The Diner was crowded, and Dot had barely time to answer the call.  
'My child, I have rounded off the protection of the Sprites.'  
Dot ran through the Diner carrying a plate with energy shakes, and the vidwindow followed her.  
'Em, that's good Phong, but I'm sort of busy right now.' Phong looked disappointed. 'Can't you turn things over to someone?' Dot looked around while she put down the beakers. Then she ran back to the counter. 'No Phong, I'm sorry. I only have Cecil and Enzo here, and it's really crowded. I don't want to leave them on their own.' Phong nodded.  
'I understand.' He looked thoughtful while Dot stepped behind the counter and started preparing more energyshakes.  
'How about I transfer the data to a vidwindow at the Diner, then you can stay there, but while you work you can access my security plans.'  
Dot shrugged. 'All right with me.'  
Phong put on a beaming smile. 'Very well, my child. You will receive the data as soon as I've completed the download to the Diner.' The vidwindow closed and left Dot to her business.

Moments later, in the Principal Office, Phong received a call from Dot. 'What is it, my child?'  
Dot smiled. 'I've looked into your files, and I think they're alright, but I saw a few points I found dubious.' For a nano, Phong sat speechless with a stunned expression on his face. Then he relaxed again. 'Lay it all out, Dot. It is good to have someone to correct my mistakes again.'  
Dot made a face, and started to point out the errors she found.

'…So I think we should do it that way.' Phong looked into his files again. 'I reckon you are right, my child. I will see to it immediately.' Dot blushed slightly. 'Glad to be of service, Phong.' She looked over the files. 'Do you think it'll work?' Phong shrugged. 'We can only hope, my child. We can only hope…'

=====  
01-25-2000  
I know, I know, I kinda screwed up the end, but I really didn't know how to continue anymore. Then I thought up the part where Phong sends the data to Dot in the Diner, which explains why she works in the Diner and not in the Principal Office most of the time. (another point covered…)  
I hope you liked it, I didn't really…  
**_Indy_**


End file.
